“Spineless European politician” is such a common image that an author can safely omit the first word if under a word-count crunch.  So it is definitely newsworthy when the Prime Minister of Denmark shows some serious spine, by standing up to the world of howling Muslim street thugs. His country deserves our support.

 In case you’ve been in a cocoon for the last two weeks, the Muslim world is in an uproar over some cartoons published in a minor Danish newspaper last September. These cartoon protesters remind me of street gangs. Angry young men sauntering around the ‘hood, (that’s street talk for “neighborhood”) daring somebody to diss (that’s street talk for “disrespect”) them.  You ‘diss me, you die. Great. The whole Muslim world has decided that thugs are the emissaries of its civilization.

 What do you do when confronted with a gang of angry teen-aged boys? If you are an old person, you hide. If you are a woman with small children, you protect yourself and your children as best you can and hope that an armed adult man shows up to deal with them.

 Europe is filled with cowering old people.  The vast majority of the industrialized world is acting like a bunch of women with small children.

 But the little giant of Denmark has decided to stand up to them.

 According to the Washington Post, Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen has publicly said he was sorry that the cartoons had offended Muslims. But he has steadfastly refused to apologize for their publication, because, “neither the government nor the Danish people can be held responsible for what is published in an independent newspaper.”  Rasmusssen continued, “I think freedom of expression is the safeguard of all other freedoms. I consider freedom of expression the most important freedom of all.”

 It takes guts for a tiny country like Denmark to confront the fury of the entire Muslim world.  Muslim protestors have burned and destroyed Danish flags. Western embassies in Beirut, Damascus and Tehran have been attacked. A Catholic priest was murdered in Turkey. And protests of European Muslims have featured calls for “a real Holocaust” on the West. Editorial boards of major newspapers that didn’t shed a tear over “Piss Christ” getting government funding, are now dithering with feigned horror over offending religious sensibilities of Muslims.

 Meanwhile, a country slightly smaller than Vermont and New Hampshire combined, with a population of 5.4 million, about the size of Miami, carries the flag for an uncensored, independent media.

 Rasmussen has refused to support an idea floated by top EU officials that the EU should adopt a voluntary code of conduct for the press.  And, he takes in stride the fact that he has been the subject of unflattering cartoons and altered photos. “I don’t feel offended– that’s part of the game. As a politician, I am used to caricatures.”

 He was less cheerful about the economic boycott that has damaged many Danish companies with significant business in the Middle East. According to a New York Times News Service story, Rasmussen said, “attempts to gain commercial advantage at Denmark’s expense had struck at the heart of all Danes.”  Preliminary estimates suggest that Danish industries have lost more than $55 million in sales in the Middle East in the opening week of the cartoon controversy.

 A Washington Post story indicated that Danish dairy industries which have spent decades establishing themselves in the Middle East are seeing their businesses collapse. Arla Food, a dairy company which produces cheeses and flavored yogurt drinks in Riyadh, estimates that they have lost about $1.7 million per day since January 28. Continued...